[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 994]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ESCALATION OF TROOPS IN IRAQ

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, the Nation brought in the new year by marking 
a somber milestone: the 3,000th fallen American combatant in Iraq. In 
response, the President proposes to send even more of a failed and 
dangerous policy.
  How much more heartbreak must American families suffer before the 
President comes to see what the rest of the Nation has long known: His 
Iraq policy is an utter failure, one that makes our country less and 
less secure with each passing day, all at the expense of the flower of 
our youth. How long before the President realizes that each fallen 
soldier, sailor, aviator, and marine is a valuable, cherished human 
being and not just a checkmark on a deployment order? How long will 
President Bush continue to ignore the demands of American voters who 
have clearly demanded a new direction?
  Mr. President, I have asked before and I will ask again now: Why?
  These policies of escalation have been tried in the past in Iraq. The 
results speak for themselves: 3,000 brave men and women return home in 
body bags, their families and friends left with nothing but memories; 
over 22,000 more returning home injured, their lives never the same.
  America's credibility around the world and its domestic security have 
been dangerously eroded. We have plunged Iraq into a civil war, further 
destabilizing an already precarious region. All this while, at home the 
civil rights of American citizens are slowly being degraded, often 
without congressional oversight.
  On November 7, 2006, the American people spoke loud and clear. They 
demanded a new direction.
  This escalation is not a new direction. It is a slap in the face to 
all Americans. And the fact that the President began committing new 
troops in Iraq before Congress had a chance to respond to his new plan 
is an insult to this body and an insult to the people who elected us to 
lead our country in a new direction.
  Mr. President, you have claimed that you wanted to start this year 
off in a spirit of bipartisanship and collegiality. As an equal 
partner, Congress deserves it, America deserves it and, most 
importantly, our troops deserve it.

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